First off, PULSAR: Lost Colony is now available for purchase on the Steam store as part of the Early Access program. We hope that you will welcome the new players as they learn all the details of PULSAR’s starship operation!

The W.D. Destroyer has been introduced! We call it an “Armored Warship”. It is a combat focused vessel with a smaller interior than most of the current ships. It has a high armor rating and slightly increased turret damage, and it also features a layout that’s different from what many of you may be used to!

We’ve also added some rare space sectors. These include black holes that engulf everything in the sector and damage ships that get too close. It’s best to just warp away as fast as possible to avoid being sucked into oblivion! Another new addition is nebulas, which greatly reduce the effectiveness of EM sensors. This can make finding and destroying ships much more difficult! We’ve also worked on a sector type that starts you inside an asteroid. Be sure to scavenge what scraps you can find in there!

Thrusters have also had a lot of work done. We’ve added two more thruster types that handle rotational and omni-directional input. These add power requirements to all possible Pilot movement. This solves some problems that allowed Pilots to go faster without using additional power and gives Pilots more control in overall power usage.

We’ve spent some time testing and made some balance changes to the game’s difficulty curve. Drones are overall a bit weaker. Many components have had changes to effectiveness. Sell prices have been tweaked, and repair depots are cheaper to use. However, chaos will still greatly affect enemies and increase the difficulty as the game progresses. We look forward to your feedback in this area.

A new controls menu has been added. This allows players to rebind keys in-game without fiddling with the bindings file scripts and such. We’ve also added better support for setting up joysticks, and the in-game prompts (i.e. “R” to use laser turret) will now update based on the bindings.

The Captain can now kick players. We will be paying close attention to community feedback and possibly making changes to this system to assure it has a positive effect for most players. In addition, the Captain can toggle or change the game’s password after it has been created.

We’ve also added some additional HUD text to explain a few of the more unique controls in PULSAR. This can be disabled in the Game Settings menu at any time.

Ship damage numbers are now displayed next to enemies. This can also be disabled in the Game Settings menu.

Also check out the in-game manual and credits. We’ve added to the credits all the Kickstarter backers who have submitted names through our pledge manager.

The save game file format has been edited so previous saves will not be compatible. This is because we added new ship components (rotational and maneuvering thrusters), and we also found a bug with destroyed ships not staying destroyed. We’ll try our best not to update the format frequently in the future, but it’s one of the downsides to being in development.

As always we look forward to your feedback!

We hope you enjoy the update!

Additions-New Ship: W.D. Destroyer (Armored Warship)-New Sector Type: Black Hole-New Sector Type: Nebula / EM Storm-New Sector Type: Asteroid Interior-New Planet (with Mission): Artifact Planet 2-New Component Type: Rotational Thruster-New Component Type: Maneuver Thruster-New Component Type: Auto Turret-The Captain can now kick players (other than the host) from the game-The Captain can now add, edit or remove the game’s password after the game is started in the overview menu-New Controls menu that allows players to edit key bindings in-game-In-game manual added to main / pause menu-Credits are now viewable from the main menu-Ship Components menu can now show full ship stats-Added some in-game controls help text that can be toggled in the game settings menu-Added ship damage numbers that can be toggled in the game settings menu-We’ve improved and re-added our ship room culling system. This is something we’ll be improving over the entire course of development.-The Captain can jettison cargo from the ship in any sector. They are destroyed right now, but in the future we want to have them visible in space.

Balance-Crews now start with 10000 credits instead of 2500-W.D. Drones are a bit weaker overall-Missile and turret damage have been tweaked / reduced-Hull repair now costs less than before (about a 30% reduction in price)-Selling components to shops will now give more credits than before-Tweaked how enemy ships upgrade themselves when chaos levels increase. They shouldn’t get as powerful as before.-Enemy crewed ships are slightly more rare. They also have the ability to use mega turrets, so watch out!

Changes-Ship rotation speed is no longer determined from Max Thrust. Instead a specialized component (rotational thruster) determines rotation speed.-Ship omni-directional translation is no longer determined from Max Thrust. Instead a specialized component (Maneuver Thruster) determines omni-directional translation speed.-Proximity mines can be shot down with a turret-Added a character limit to ship names (25)-Added a text popup when in range of piloting screen-The Airlock can now be used to dump components while not in range of a shop-Both asteroid and graveyard sectors are now farther away from where players ships arrive. This should help with the occasional “warp into asteroid mesh” or “instant kill via proximity mine”. Those aren’t fun.-Roland now has 4 auto turrets placed upon the belly of the ship.

Fixes-Ship name should dynamically update on the join game menu when the Captain changes the name in-game-Ship type name should properly update when a new ship is captured on the join game menu-Fixed scaling issue with Infected minefields-Fixed issue with Infected Carrier AI-Fixed Sun Shafts-Fixed issue that could cause shops, missions, and planets to appear in starting Infected space-Fixed an issues that could spawn a sand shark on top of the terraforming station on Mueva 7, also fixed a collision issue.-Fixed bug that caused AI Weapon Specialists to not start with Advanced Operator talent, this now means enemy crewed ships will have access to their mega turrets and missiles… good luck!-Fixed bug that caused enemy crews collision errors when navigating some ships-Fixed issue that could cause ships to begin the game not fully booted / started-Fixed issue that could cause some stuttering in-game once per second-PiBot can now be selected from the AI Priorities menu-Fixed some spelling mistakes for the Phalanx virus-Saves now handle destroyed ships properly. New save file format is required.-”Objective Completed” message should now show on host-Roland now drops credits on destruction

Known Issues-Some issues have been seen with crew bot networking-Some audio crackling has been observed-Bandits will sometimes not spawn / fall through the level on certain planets-Space scrap is sometimes not visible-Some isolated issues with disconnections from the Photon Cloud-When playing on or fighting against the W.D. Destroyer, music doesn’t play properly

Today we are releasing Beta 1! To clarify: Beta is where the majority of PULSAR’s content will be added, systems and mechanics we didn’t consider to be “core” will also be added, and all of the game’s current systems will continue to be improved as development continues! Hope that’s clear, we'll be happy to answer any questions about why we are going this route if there are any!

Our current plan is to launch PULSAR: Lost Colony through Steam Early Access sometime September 2015!

So first off there is a new ship to fly! The C.U. Roland-Class Starship! You can see some footage of what it looks like in Devlog 58. We've added an inherent ship qualities system to the game, we think this will be a really useful way to not only differentiate all of the ships we plan to have, but also help balance them. Games names are now separated from ship names, pretty straight forward.

We took some time to sit down and actually play the game for fun (not testing) these past few weeks and we came to the same conclusion a lot of you came to as well, the game is far too easy. We took some early steps to correct this issues by having stronger enemies, and slowing ship progression by having ships drop weaker / less loot at the beginning.We still have a ton of plans to help bring a nice bit of challenge to the game and help its pace, but we hope the changes we've made are beginning to go in the right direction.

We've also changed the save file format, since we are now going to be adding more content to the game, this will inherently change how galaxies are generated, we are hoping the new format will keep a much data as possible pertaining to your ship and crew while leaving the galaxy room to grow and change when new versions are released.

A new optional game mode has been added: Ironman mode. This will cause your active save file to be deleted upon ship destruction. We will be working on making this system stable and functional over the next few updates! As usual, any feedback or bug reports are greatly appreciated.

We were planning on having a nice number of AI improvements to this build but we lost a bit of time assembling a new trailer for the game. We focused on improving the two biggest complaints which were Pilots not lining up and engineers preventing shields being lowered. Keep in mind the AI still has a ton of work to do before we are happy with it.

Thanks again for all of the bug reports and feedback that you have been sending in. We couldn't do this game without our great community!

Additions-New Ship: The Colonial Union Roland-Class starship is now available!-Ships now have inherent qualities based on their type-You can now zoom in while operating a turret by pressing left ctrl-Optional Iron Man mode added that will delete your save file upon ship death-Hosts can now name the game and their ship two separate things, this allows two games to have the same ship name without any unexpected issues-New: Focused Laser Turret. High-damage variant of the Laser Turret. Uses substantial amount of power.

Changes-Small tweaks to ship armor effectiveness-Major balance changes to ships, turrets, chaos, etc-Ships will now handle differently based on type / mass-Tweaks to join, create and continue game menus-Camera / shadow quality tweaks-Upgraded save file format that will allow us to keep save data while allowing new content to be added to the galaxy. This will allow the galaxy to be regenerated with the new content while saving relevant data when it can be kept (mission data, ship components, crew level, etc). This should enable us to keep your save files working for much longer than before as we add new content to the game.-Removed “Auto Turret” component from shops. This was a leftover component that wasn’t meant to be in the game. It can be somewhat glitchy.-Pilot bots can now line up to the next waypoint when not in combat-Engineer bots shouldn’t startup the ship shields while in green alert. This should help with repairing the hull-Improvements to piloting AI

Fixes-Added additional filtering for save file names to prevent some saving issues-Spacebar now should properly center the starmap-Guns should no longer file while a dialogue window is open-Fixed some problems with shop networking that would prevent clients from seeing a shop’s inventory-Fixed networking issues with planetary creatures that caused them to behave incorrectly-Fixed issue with “Hunt the Resolution” mission that prevented proper registration of the ship kill-Fixed issue that caused waypoints to not show up for the pilot-Sector discovered percent now shows percent of sectors visited in galaxy-Fixed music playback to prevent overlapping music tracks-Fixed issue that prevented players from being able to close the buy/trade dropdown when in the shop menu-Fixed an issue with piloting controls / camera alignment-Fixed an issue with galaxy path building when a game is reset

Known Issues-Some issues have been seen with crew bot networking-Some audio crackling has been observed-Bandits will sometimes not spawn / fall through the level on certain planets

I've included our most recent State of the Galaxy below which contains information about our future plans and features.

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Since we are finishing up the Alpha we figured it was about time to do another one of these write-ups! With this we hope to explain what we’ve been up to, as well as what our goals are moving forward into Beta!

Moving into Beta doesn’t mean we are done adding, tweaking and polishing features, just that we will now be spending much more time working on scenarios and content! There were a few features we were hoping to get in during the Alpha, but we explain below why they were delayed.

List of Some Non-Content Features (Early / Mid Beta)

-Research / sample collection. The Scientist will be able to create useful consumables / unlock new talents. -Captain order system. A more in-depth order system with the potential for contextual orders based on the current sector and such. -More fleshed out chaos system with randomized galaxy events -More depth and refinement to each class -Refined ship components and shop interface -Ship-to-Ship hailing -UI / Menu overhaul -VR -LAN -Leaderboards and high scores -And more!

-Networking solution overhaul (adding LAN support in the process) -More content, polish -Finish up features listed above -Continue to improve AI -Continue to work on balance / combat

Plans for Late Beta

-End game -The Lost Colony and related content -Content, polish -Continue to improve AI -Continue to work on balance / combat

Other Features:

Virtual Reality Support

VR / Oculus Rift was part of our original plans for Alpha phase. We have been working on internal implementations but aren’t currently satisfied with the experience yet. This is partly due to the Unity implementation missing some advanced control options that are required to use our unique camera system. It is very close, but without these options it won’t be a workable experience. We will also need to do some major overhaul of our UI / menus which is something we were already planning. These will take some time but we are hopeful that it will come together in the first half of the Beta process. The VR community and movement has changed a lot since we first ran our Kickstarter and promised VR support, but we are still dedicated to supporting these awesome devices. We will also be investigating other VR headsets to see if they would be compatible with PULSAR.

Offline LAN Support

Our current networking solution is the Photon Cloud. It provides some huge advantages that are sometimes not obvious, including a hassle-free way to play with friends over the internet without messing with ports or routers. That being said, there are a few downsides of the Photon Cloud including a lack of LAN support. For this reason we will likely be moving to another networking solution during Beta. We are investigating a few possibilities, but these still need some time to mature and stabilize. We don’t want to lose the ease-of-use functionality for connecting players but need some more control to allow for an offline LAN mode.

Mod Support

There have been some hopeful developments related to Unity 5 that might allow for this in the future. However, it is not a small task to add mod support to a game like PULSAR, especially after years of development without the feature. We are not promising that mod support will be part of the release of PULSAR. There is a chance that we will add it post-release, but it would be a large and time-consuming undertaking.

How much content is planned?

The amount of content is somewhat flexible. We want many hours of play, unique scenarios and bits of content throughout. We have a hefty behind-the-scenes list of planned content that we will implement over the course of Beta.

How much longer do you plan to work on PULSAR?

Our current estimate is 12 - 18 months. This is mostly based on how long it will take us to create a satisfactory amount of content.

Multi-Crew Support?

We are completely focused on the single crew experience. We have no plans for any multi-crew modes and/or MMO features. We have our work cut out for us already with the announced feature set and amount of content, so we want to make sure we have the time and resources to make it sufficiently polished.

Dedicated Servers?

Dedicated server functionality might be in the works. No definite promises at this time. A lot depends on our final networking solution.

Some of you might not know that we have released the Alpha version of Pulsar! We decided to start small and slowly expand the systems once the current ones are working and functional.We’ve released a number of updates, and today is the start of version 0.29a!

You can always check out our forums for the latest info and help shape the game via feedback and bug reports!

Here are some of the release notes regarding today’s update!

Version 0.29a has a number of fixes / improvements across the board, as well as a few new features!

One of the biggest additions to this patch is the dynamic procedurally generated StarMap! Each time a game is created, a seed is made. From this number, an entire galaxy is formed - patterns of swirls and factions are generated, sectors are created, and some are even named!

It’s still a work in progress and a good amount is likely to change through the rest of development, but we think it’s a great way to illustrate the direction we want to take with the game. Each galaxy will be different and pose interesting challenges and obstacles.

Through a complex system of simulated expansion, each territory attempts to conquer the newly generated galaxy, and you are left with some interesting patterns that will most likely shape the way you and your crew traverse the galaxy.

We aren’t adding content just yet, so the starmap is merely a look as to what will be there in the future.

See the spread of the WD Corporation privatizing their space, the few but special sectors home to the Fluffy Biscuit Company, the public areas owned and operated by the Colonial Union and its citizens, the erratic and often fearsome sectors which the Infected have absorbed, and the vast bodies of unclaimed neutral zones where the Alliance of Gentlemen lurk in hiding. This aspect of the game has got us really excited for the future. Each area is dripping with potential, and we can’t wait to begin adding the content to make the galaxies come alive.

-Visual improvements to the main menu-Update notes can now be viewed on the main menu as well-Player movement has been modified, specifically strafing-A few graphical errors on the bridge have been fixed-Hull repair has been improved-General menus have been slightly improved-A simple and temporary control scheme has been illustrated in the menu-Piloting view has been updated to include some more information-The reactor screen has been modified again and should correctly display other systems’ usage-Private servers are now password protected instead of hidden-Ship controls have been modified, which should allow players to rotate the ship beyond 180 degrees (This is still early, so there might be a few bugs.)-The Star Map has been implemented and is ready for testing!

We are now on the home stretch of our Kickstarter campaign and wanted to inform anyone else who might be interested in supporting us! We offer some exclusive kickstarter rewards that may interest you and your crew! It would mean the world (galaxy) to us if you could help spread the word and make the final hours of this kickstarter a grand success!